


Minor Distraction

by Vampykitty_kun



Series: Earth V666 [2]
Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, Red Robin (Comics)
Genre: Future Fic, Infection, M/M, Missed Check-in, Survival, Zombie Apocalypse, via Joker
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-04
Updated: 2014-11-04
Packaged: 2018-02-24 03:29:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,183
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2566625
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vampykitty_kun/pseuds/Vampykitty_kun
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>His attempts to reach the man on their two way radios were for naught. Damian had his turned off, and if the infected had not killed him, Tim surely would after this…</p>
            </blockquote>





	Minor Distraction

**Author's Note:**

  * For [cornflakepizza](https://archiveofourown.org/users/cornflakepizza/gifts), [vanilla-pieceofmind](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=vanilla-pieceofmind).



He had not been feeling good. A slight, _average_ , everyday stomach bug. Nothing to be worried about- nothing outside of the _usual_ anyway. Unfortunately, Damian had still gone out on patrol without him… had made sure that the surrounding area was clear, that _he_ was safe, and then had gone off on his own leaving him at the mercy of his worrying mind.

He had protested- _naturally_. They made a point of _not_ splitting up these days. In the past that had been the death of many of them. But trying to convince Damian to _not_ go hunting for supplies and survivors was like trying to convince Bruce to sleep mid investigation in the good ol’ days.

So he had laid in worry for hours, curled up on the ratty mattress of their current flop- one that the young Bat was not at all thrilled about, but accepted solely due to lack of other options in their current part of the city, and flipped through a book without paying much attention to the words on the dog-eared pages.

It was only after Damian was two hours late with his promised return that he truly began to lose his nerve and panic fluttered in his chest. The situation only worsened when his attempts to reach the man on their two way radios were for naught. Damian had his turned off, and if the infected had not killed him, Tim surely would after this. The younger man knew damn well that he would jump to horrid conclusions in such a situation. To add radio silence to his unexplained absence was _cruel_.

When the third hour of the man being MIA rolled around he had had enough. With nerves shot, and despite his churning stomach that had only gotten worse with worry, he suited up and braced himself for whatever he might find out in the blackened decrepit city- if _anything_.

He had not gone off on his own even _once_ since he had stumbled upon Damian. Too many worries, a lack of confidence, and a genuine fear that something would happen to either of them if he had chanced it had held him back.

The first solo venture was no less terrifying than he had anticipated.

He stuck to high ground, kept to ledges and lamp posts, fire escapes and barren rooftops, all in the hopes of avoiding making contact with violent mindless meat vessels lingering in the streets and buildings while being able to see as much of the city below as humanly possible.

Every little sound commanded his attention, made the hair on the back of his neck stand on edge, and had his upset stomach churning… but he pressed on even still. Damian had proven himself worth the risk during their time together and he truly was not sure what he would do if the man ever fell.

Nothing, he supposed… he hardly wanted to live in a world where everyone he had ever cared for ceased to exist.

In the past Gotham had been rather bright even at night from the countless buildings and blaring signs lining the streets. These days it was unnervingly dark, the lights long since blown, destroyed, or power completely cut in certain parts of the city. They had made an effort once to restore the electricity in the blackout zones only to find the underground far more dangerous than the streets, teeming with the infected- citizens that had dove underground in hopes of escaping the virus only for it to end up being a breeding ground for death as they found themselves locked in with them.

That had been one of their close calls… their knowledge of the underground from patrol days had been the only thing that had saved them, and even then it had been difficult when they had come upon unexpected cave-ins. Neither of them had been able to sleep worth a damn for days after they had managed to get to a safe zone.

The darkness made everything all the more worse. The lenses in his domino where nowhere near as advanced as those they had once had at their disposal and the night vision setting was faulty at best. They could no longer use grabbles except in case of emergency as between the sound of the discharge, and the planting, they attracted too much attention to their locations. He had to rely on his skills as an acrobat, and while he was not unskilled, he was still no Dick Grayson. With the city in shambles it was all too easy to lose foothold on a crumbling wall or for a gargoyle to dislodge unexpectedly.

His heart hammered in his chest as he crept from building to building, cursing all the while that they had yet to find enough salvaged parts to create a tracking system, and that his damned immune system had chosen to act up and officially bench him in Damian’s eyes in the first place…

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Four hours into his search he was officially losing his mind.

After nearly flubbing a jump that would have sent him spiraling down five stories straight into a mass of infected, he found himself pressed into an alcove shaking as he hugged his chest, running a hand through cold sweat dampened hair as he struggled to pull himself together.

He wanted to be back at their refuge. He wanted to feel warm- _safe_ … he wanted Damian to be alive, unscathed, standing in front of him so he could beat some sense into him.

There would never be solo patrol for him again in the future, for _either_ of them, because his nerves simply couldn’t take the strain anymore. He did not want to lose anyone else- and Damian was all he had left.

And it was that knowledge alone that had him prying himself from the brick wall and continuing his quest.

All the while he cursed the city for being so huge…

As the search rolled into the fifth hour Tim finally saw promising signs that he had not only gone in the correct direction but that Damian could still very well be alive. Passing over an alleyway his eyes fell upon a neighboring street littered with gore. He dared not go in close but the massacre had Damian and his katana written all over it. The slices in the pale rotting flesh looked too fresh to have occurred anything other than recent and it was a good _and_ bad sign. He had come the right direction but Damian _had_ been under attack as he had feared.

It had been the same scene with Cassandra- but things had ended _badly_ for her. He only hoped that Damian had had more luck…

The trail of carnage ran cold after a few blocks. It did little to put his mind at ease.

It was difficult for him to keep quiet and refrain from shouting out for the man, but he could not risk it, not when there had been so much activity in the area so recently. Any stragglers would be on his tail without a moment’s notice and he was fooling himself if he thought he would be able to escape a mass attack with his current mind set and physical condition.

It took thorough searching between buildings, on rooftops, and fire escapes before he finally caught sight of Damian, and when he did he felt all air rush from his lungs at the sight of a trench coat clad figure hunched over in a dark alley- on the _ground_. He immediately feared the worst, had to fight back the bile rising in his throat, and he struggled to stop his hands from shaking as he approach hesitantly from above on the rickety fire escape. Damian not acknowledging his presence was a bad sign and he braced himself for the heartbreak…

Only, Damian did not rear around snarling with a stark white face and crazed grin when he shown the flashlight down into his corner… Tim merely watched as the man lifted cupped hands to his cowl-less face and nuzzled what lay within them.

All at once the dam broke and Tim was so far over the edge that he could not even begin to care about the infected hearing them as he leapt down to ground level and roared.

“What the _hell_ is wrong with you!?” Tim stomped towards him, and Damian didn’t so much as flinch at the tone he took. “ _Why_ did you turn your radio off!? _Where_ is your cowl? If…if anyone were to _see_ -” He choked, hands tightening into fists as he swallowed the lump forming in his throat.

The man sighed and turned slightly toward him as he ran a gloved hand over the short hair growing on his scalp. A faint apologetic smile graced his lips.

“ _Tt_ , there is no one here to see… no one who may _speak_ of it at least.” He rolled his eyes before cracking his neck and shifting his crouched form. “Besides, not a soul would be able to come up behind me… just you, _beloved_ , because I _let_ you.”

Tim cursed himself mentally as a portion of his anger promptly melted away at that statement and the fond tone it took.

“ _Great_ … now you just put our relationship with each other out in the open, perfect for anyone listening in who wants to manipulate us in the future- probably your grandfather as I would _not_ put it past him to be alive and have eyes on us somehow purely for his entertainment…” He muttered, closing in on the man.  “That is the _third_ safety protocol you have violated tonight, really great work _Batman_ , outstanding job…”

And as Tim curled himself around one of man’s arms Damian sighed.

“Fine…very well, if it makes you _happy_ -“ He grunted, and shifted the bundle in his hand as he pulled the cowl back over his head.

He stood back up slowly, twisting in Tim’s grasp, and tilted his head at the shorter man briefly.

“Here, look at this one…” he mumbled, holding up his cupped hand, revealing a small slightly worse for wear tabby kitten with a torn ear. “Doesn’t he remind you of Todd?” 

And Tim could not help but snort, because sure enough the kitten certainly _did_ have a resemblance, scruffy fur, forehead curl markings, pissy hisses and all…

“I hate you. You are _horrible_.” He groaned, pressing his face into the man’s side. “You had me worried sick- _sicker_ , thinking the worst, all because _kittens_ …” he muttered.

But he knew Damian saw right through him and had felt the tension in the air disperse the moment he had laid eyes on the small ball of fur.

“To be fair…I was preoccupied with taking out the enemy for much of my absence. You without a doubt stumbled upon the result of that- _eh_ , situation…” he huffed. “But then, I took a breather to plan out my route back, and to ensure that I had cleared the immediate area, but then came upon these. I was distracted, and for _that_ I am sorry. I have not spotted any in months. They would not make it much longer out here. Immunity from the virus does not make them immortal…”

He met the man’s gaze and glared him down.

“If you ever turn your radio off without warning again it’s going to _kill_ me. Do you understand that? I can’t handle that kind of stress, not knowing…” he shuddered, sucking in a sharp breath. “If you _go_ , I’m gone. I have suffered through enough of my loved ones dying, before and after the toxin… I _won’t_ go through that again. Remember that.”

And to give the younger man credit he flinched at that statement and gave a curt nod.

“ _Noted_.”

“Now, stuff them in your pockets- because we _both_ know you will not be leaving without them, and get your ass back up to higher ground so we can go home.”

“I will never call such squalor _‘home’_. It is simply a necessary secure location of respite while we pick through this area. Home is back at the tower…” He sniffed, but all the same he followed through with tucking the four too-young kittens into various pouches for safe keeping.

As they made their way back to their current safe house Tim was certainly relieved that there was little activity on the streets below and none whatsoever at the upper levels, likely due to Damian’s work earlier in the night.

When they crawled through the window entrance and shut the steel panels behind them he was finally able to breathe a deep sigh of relief. Tim watched Damian unload the kittens into a crate for safe keeping in mock amusement as he stripped out of his gear, and after Damian had done the same and had started rummaging for sustenance for the furry little creatures he managed to even laugh.

“If you think for one second that they are ever sleeping with us you are sadly mistaken.”

Damian only grinned in response.

**Author's Note:**

> -x-x-x-x-x-x-
> 
> Original prompt:
> 
> vanilla-pieceofmind said:
> 
> Damian went on patrol and didn’t come back. Tim (stayed at home for whatever reason) freaked out and searched frantically every corner of Gotham for him. Turned out that Dami found a bunch of kitties and stayed out to cuddle and coo at them all night.


End file.
